Publix rolling out out contactless Apple Pay at Supermarkets amid COVID-19 - General Discussion Discussions on AppleInsider Forums (2024)

This good news.

Meanwhile, as a Florida resident and now retired I attach this as a wee bit of levity in these horrible times: (note it is semi-true, Publix are open early twice a week, I believe, for us oldies).

lkrupp said:

Yep, at my local grocery store they wipe down the pos terminal after every customer checks out. Unfortunately they also demand I put in my debit card PIN even with ApplePay. The customer cannot bypass debit card requirement. These places still have a lot to learn about contactless payments. In my neck of the woods only Walgreens truly gets it. I can enter my rewards card and payment without touching the pos terminal.

Is that a requirement of the debit card or the retailer?

Where I live I use Apple Pay for almost every transaction. The only place I have to interact with anything other than holding my Watch or iPhone up to the terminal is at the Mobil station. Even though I’m using my credit card to pay I still have to touch the screen to tell the POS it is not a debit card, then again to decline a car wash.

When I was in Florida in January I stopped at a Publix and was surprised they didn’t support Apple Pay. It’s been years since I’ve been in a grocery store that didn’t accept it.

semi_guy said:

Contactless payment methods like ApplePay would be great addition to contain COVID-19 transmission. Sad that many essential businesses like groceries, pharmacies, and hardware stores do not offer ApplePay or other contactless payments. In these days, we are choosing to buy from stores that have ApplePay vs those that force us to insert cards and touch their little card readers.

Where we live in Louisiana NFC is accepted at our grocery stories and pharmacies. From national retailers like Whole Foods, Target, Walgreens, and CVS, to local merchant POS terminals as well. Only caveat is our local grocery chain doesn’t have it set to notrequire signatures via the tethered e-pen on the POS, somewhat defeating the purpose.

Home Depot and Lowe’s remain holdouts. Annoyingly so, considering Home Depot’s customer data breech.

ihatescreennames said:

lkrupp said:

Yep, at my local grocery store they wipe down the pos terminal after every customer checks out. Unfortunately they also demand I put in my debit card PIN even with ApplePay. The customer cannot bypass debit card requirement. These places still have a lot to learn about contactless payments. In my neck of the woods only Walgreens truly gets it. I can enter my rewards card and payment without touching the pos terminal.

Is that a requirement of the debit card or the retailer?

It appears relative to the retailer/POS. I’ve used the same Visa checkcard at multiple retailers and some required the PIN, a signature, or nothing at all.

When I was in Florida in January I stopped at a Publix and was surprised they didn’t support Apple Pay. It’s been years since I’ve been in a grocery store that didn’t accept it.

Every time I purchase something at Publix I constantly ask about the availability of Apple Pay, especially during this pandemic. An assistant manager revealed to me recently that Publix has been trying to roll out its own shoppers’ card/tracking system. This is actually a violation of Publix‘ long-held mantra of never having such a shopper ID scheme, just “good prices for everyone”. When I lived in the Tampa Bay area (the home market for Publix) their prices were competitive, but not here in the North Carolina Triangle, which is a super competitive supermarket market. There are evidently still companies who never seem to learn from the CurrentC debacle.

I always suspected this motive was the reason Publix refused to accept Apple Pay and was constantly trying to confirm that from a manager somehow. Well, COVID-19 seems to have de-pantsed their consumer unfriendly schemes. You would think outfits like Publix would simply be happy to have the increased sales Apple Pay will bring, especially in these glove-wearing, social distancing times. Let’s hope they don’t make us do something stupid and which offers absolutely no security, such as tapping a confirmation button or requiring a signature. Food Lion and ALDI don’t make me do that when I use Apple Pay.

BTW, Food Lion, Lowe’s Foods, and Wegman’s all have Shoppers’ Card rackets and they accept Apple Pay. Are you listening Kroger & Harris Teeter?

mike1 said:

I still get asked for my PIN or to click through as credit almost every time I use my debit card through Apple Pay. I think it's a merchant (or their processor's) requirement, not my bank which is Chase, in my case.

That’s because you are using a debit card. It is totally ridiculous and unnecessary for a POS to ask for a PIN or confirmation if one is using a credit card, such as when I use my Apple Card.

Where we live in Louisiana NFC is accepted at our grocery stories and pharmacies. From national retailers like Whole Foods, Target, Walgreens, and CVS, to local merchant POS terminals as well. Only caveat is our local grocery chain doesn’t have it set to notrequire signatures via the tethered e-pen on the POS, somewhat defeating the purpose.

Home Depot and Lowe’s remain holdouts. Annoyingly so, considering Home Depot’s customer data breech.In Dallas, it is pretty much Target that consistency support it. WalMart, Kroger, Tom Thumb, Aldi do not. CVS and Walgreens claim to support ApplePay, but the stores around here do not. The Home Depot, Lowe's, and Elliots do not support it either.In many eating places the employees do not know they support Apple Pay. We have to keep saying, your company supports it, just run it through as a credit card and you will see. We get a lot of blank stares, calling the manager and telling them they do not know what to do. Many times, the manager does not know either until they finally run the charge through and are amazed they did not need to do anything.Some stores supported it, then an update to their POS took ApplePay away.

Here in Costa Rica, which is somewhat backward technologically, the big local supermarket chains have no problem with Apple Pay, although individual checkers may have no idea how to use it. Smaller stores and restaurants accept cards but know nothing of Apple Pay. The main holdout is Walmart, which still wants people to accept its own scheme. Restaurants and smaller stores have no idea what Apple Pay is. Of course because of silly-high import duties there are almost no iPhones other than those owned by people visiting from other countries.

People are impressed with my Apple Card. And so am I — it offers favorable exchange rates and no exchange fees.

I live in both Costa Rica and South Florida, and Publix is a great store. I'm pretty sure Publix's problem is agreements they made when joining the ill-fated Current-C. I'm glad to hear that by the time I return to the Miami area,, Publix will have finally become as modern as Costa Rican's chains ... LOL.

It took many years, but I'm glad that my local supermarket finally implemented Apple Pay and I can finally check out using my Apple Watch whenever I shop.

There are 9 self checkout machines in my local market, 3 rows of 3 machines, and they have temporarily closed down the middle machine in each row, because of the virus, so that people can keep their distance.

ihatescreennames said:

lkrupp said:

Yep, at my local grocery store they wipe down the pos terminal after every customer checks out. Unfortunately they also demand I put in my debit card PIN even with ApplePay. The customer cannot bypass debit card requirement. These places still have a lot to learn about contactless payments. In my neck of the woods only Walgreens truly gets it. I can enter my rewards card and payment without touching the pos terminal.

Is that a requirement of the debit card or the retailer?

Where I live I use Apple Pay for almost every transaction. The only place I have to interact with anything other than holding my Watch or iPhone up to the terminal is at the Mobil station. Even though I’m using my credit card to pay I still have to touch the screen to tell the POS it is not a debit card, then again to decline a car wash.

When I was in Florida in January I stopped at a Publix and was surprised they didn’t support Apple Pay. It’s been years since I’ve been in a grocery store that didn’t accept it.

Definitely the retailer’s problem. I used to be able to just hit the ‘enter’ button and the transaction would be changed from debit to credit with no PIN requested. Now that same grocery store pops up a message saying the PIN cannot be overridden. They made the change. Why I don’t know. Like I said my local Walgreens knows how to do it. I never have to touch anything using my debit card with ApplePay. It just works. Walgreens FTW!

apple ][ said:

It took many years, but I'm glad that my local supermarket finally implemented Apple Pay and I can finally check out using my Apple Watch whenever I shop.

There are 9 self checkout machines in my local market, 3 rows of 3 machines, and they have temporarily closed down the middle machine in each row, because of the virus, so that people can keep their distance.

A number of gas stations in my area now also have NFC available at the pump. There’s also a self-serve ice machine in town that accepts ApplePay. Select 10 or 20 pound bag, wave my Apple Watch in front of it and out pops my ice.

semi_guy said:

Contactless payment methods like ApplePay would be great addition to contain COVID-19 transmission. Sad that many essential businesses like groceries, pharmacies, and hardware stores do not offer ApplePay or other contactless payments. In these days, we are choosing to buy from stores that have ApplePay vs those that force us to insert cards and touch their little card readers.

My understanding is that governments agencies are effectively prohibited from paying credit card service fees meaning methods like ApplePay aren't an option. If I renew my license plates online and pay with a credit card I'm taken to a US Bank site and charged a $1 processing fee by US Bank,

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